Desk set holder for letter openers and shears



Patented Dec. 13, 1949 UNITED DESK SET HOLDER FOR LETTER OPENERS AND SHEARS Norman Fulton, Fremont, Ohio, assignor to The Flexible File Company, Fremont, Ohio Application April 1, 1946, Serial No. 658,704

1 Claim.

This invention relates to desk sets and more especially to a case for housing a letter opener and shears on a desk in an attractive manner, and so that they will be readily accessible for use when desired.

One of the prime objects of the invention is to design a very neat and attractive desk set which is very comp-act, which protects the sharp points of the shears and letter opener, preventing piercing or mutilation of papers on the desk and the scoring of the desk covering or finish.

Another object is to design a well-balanced desk set in which the instruments are compactly housed, so that the set occupies a minimum of space and lies flat on the face of the desk, thus minimizing the possibility of knocking or striking with the arm or hand as the person performs his or her work on the desk.

A further object is to design a desk set in which the instruments are always in position and at hand for use, and in which they are readily insertable and/ or removable.

With the above and other objects in view, the

present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim, it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportion, and minor details of construction, without departing from the spirit, or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawing;

Fig. 1 is a vertical, sectional, side-elevational view of my new desk set, the broken lines showing the shears and letter opener in position therein.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a transverse, sectional View taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. l-with the instruments omitted.

Fig. 4 is an end-elevational view.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing in which I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention. The numeral 5 indicates the base of the set which is preferably but not necessarily formed of a relatively thick, flat piece of plastic, the one end of which is rounded as at 6 to eliminate corners, the opposite end being beveled as at I to facilitate grasping of the instruments.

A housing 8 is secured to the face of the plastic strip 5, and this, too, can be formed of a relatively thin sheet of plastic shaped as shown to form a hollow chamber 9 in which the shears and letter opener Ill and II respectively are inserted.

The housing 8 is longitudinally disposed and. is preferably tapered to form a hollow, wedgeshaped structure, the front end being curved downwardly as at l2 to form a narrow, graceful end section into which the blade end I3 of the shears projects.

A transversely disposed strip i4 is secured to the face of the base plate at a point adjacent the open end of the housing and forms a wear strip over which the shears are drawn as they are inserted or removed.

The end wall l5 forms a closure for the larger end of the housing, and a shear accommodating entrance I6 is provided therein, through which the shears II] are introduced to the housing, the shears riding on the wear strip, the ends of the blades projecting into and being lightly wedged in the front narrow end of the housing, the wear strip supporting the shears above the face of the base, with the handles projecting beyond the beveled end of the base so that they can be readily grasped.

A vertically disposed slit I1 is also provided in the end wall I5 above the entrance l6 and accommodates the letter opener II, the handle end of said opener projecting beyond the end wall a distance suflicient to enable it to be readily grasped by the user.

The fact that both the shears and letter opener are horizontally disposed permits a Very low structure, the top of which is rounded so that there are no corners to catch, snag or mar.

From the foregoing description, it will be clearly obvious that I have perfected a very attractive, compact desk set that can be readily and economically manufactured and assembled, and in which the instruments can be easily inserted or removed.

What I claim is:

A desk set of the character described comprisin a base havin a rounded front end, a hollow housing secured to the top face of said base, said housing being forwardly pitched and outwardly tapered and terminating in a closed rounded nose section of limited cross-sectional dimension, an end wall forming a closure for the one open end of the housing, entrance openings of predetermined shape therein and adapted to accommodate shears and a letter opener, the nose section of the housing being of limited, predetermined width to snugly and frictionally secure the ends of the shear blades therein, and a wear strip secured to the face of the base Within the housing and spacing the shears above the face thereof.

NORMAN FULTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 944,355 Beasley Dec. 28, 1909 1,969,976 Goldman Aug. 14, 1934 

